This invention relates generally to the marking of personal property with identifying information and the retrieval of such information from such property. The invention is especially useful in applying identification information to, and retrieving such information from, unicycles, bicycles, motorcycles, tricycles, four-wheelers and ATVs. The invention may be used to identify an item of stolen property that has been recovered by the authorities so as to facilitate the return of the item to its rightful owner.
Theft of personal property is a serious problem in the United States. One item of personal property that is easy to steal during normal use is a bicycle. Bicycles are inherently portable, and they can be quickly stolen when left unattended or poorly secured on a sidewalk or other public place. Crime statistics indicate that millions of bicycles are stolen in the United States every year. Motorcycles are probably more difficult to steal, because of their weight and the fact that a key is required for proper operation, but they are also tempting targets for thieves because of their significant value and relative portability.
Many bicycle owners attempt to counter the risk of theft by employing one or more of various locking devices. However, many of the commonly used locking devices can be readily defeated with simple tools, such as lock picks, saws and bolt cutters, in a very short period of time. Even when a strong and effective locking device is used, however, a lamppost or other suitable object to which the bicycle may be locked is not always available. Furthermore, if a locking device is defeated by a determined thief or by the lack of a suitable securing object, the owner will have to rely on other means for assuring that his property, once recovered, can be identified and returned to him.
Since bicycles and motorcycles are so portable that the risk of theft is hard to eliminate, identification methods have been developed for marking these items of property so that if stolen and subsequently recovered, they can be returned to their owners. Manufacturers routinely place serial numbers on bicycles and motorcycles, but these can usually be removed or defaced so as to be illegible with little difficulty. In addition, in order for such serial numbers to be useful to law enforcement personnel, the owners of the vehicles must record the serial numbers and register them with the manufacturers or otherwise make them available to law enforcement personnel in the event of theft. Because reliance on serial numbers has proved ineffective, several other marking systems have also been developed for identifying personal property. Thus, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,587,575 of Leitner et al. describes a method and apparatus for identifying vehicles from encoded information that is displayed on a sticker that is applied to the vehicle. The code is in the form of a string of alpha-numeric characters or a bar code that corresponds to information about the vehicle and/or its owner. A code reader is provided that can compare the code (by computer link) read from the sticker to vehicle information stored in a remote computer. A user of the code reader can input the code using a keyboard or a wand-type bar code reader to obtain the stored identification information about the vehicle. However, such a code-bearing sticker can be removed or defaced so as to make its information irretrievable. A more subtle approach is the Micro-Tech Identification System of JanAlan Systems, Inc., which employs a small translucent sticker that is approximately 1.5 mm in diameter. This sticker can be printed with a message of up to 75 alphanumeric characters that may be read using a 30xc3x97 magnifier. Because the sticker is so small, it is not easily noticed by a thief; however, it may not be noticed by law enforcement personnel either on property that is recovered as stolen. Since it is so small and since it may be placed anywhere on an item of property, only the owner of the property may be able to locate the sticker that he has placed thereon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,900 of Garrison describes an identification badge for a bicycle which comprises a pair of hardened steel casings that are adapted for attachment to the seat tube of a bicycle. The badge has an identifying number engraved thereon and an aluminum sticker with the owner""s personal identifying information. This identification badge is not an attractive addition to a bicycle or other item of property, and it is possible that a determined thief could remove it or deface its identifying number. In addition, the aluminum sticker of Garrison could readily be defaced or removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,857,640 of Hilbon describes an identification device which contains an identification surface and which is designed to be mounted on an article of property such as an engine or the frame of a bike. The identification surface has an associated rod-like member that is capable of being broken into two parts. Upon breaking, one of the parts of the rod-like member will remain permanently attached to the article, and the other may be retained as a matching piece to identify the article through the xe2x80x9cbreakprintxe2x80x9d formed by breaking the rod-like member. This system requires the owner to retain the broken piece of the rod-like member and to make it available to law enforcement personnel in the event his bike is lost or stolen. In addition, it seems likely that the breakprint formed by breaking the rod-like member of Hilbon could, if placed in a conspicuous place, be defaced by a thief so as to be useless as an identifier.
U.K.I.D. Systems Ltd. of the United Kingdom has developed a microchip tagging system in which passive transponder microchips may be hidden in or on the frame, engine or other major components of a motorcycle. The microchip contains a unique identifier that may be read by a radio frequency (RF) scanner that is activated in the vicinity of the chip. While such a system is likely to be helpful to law enforcement personnel who may recover stolen property, especially because the microtags may be easily hidden so that they cannot be removed by a clever thief, radio frequency scanners are generally quite expensive and require significant power to operate. In addition, RF scanners must operate only within approved frequency ranges. However, since they operate in the electromagnetic spectrum, RF scanners may be adversely affected by electromagnetic interference from either intentional transmitters (such as radio stations) or unintentional transmitters (such as electronic equipment, engines, fluorescent lamps and the like). In addition, information from an RF activated microtag may not be reliably obtained if the effective range of the scanner (taking into account interference of which the operator may not be aware) is exceeded in examining an item of property.
Another radio frequency identification system has been developed by Motorola for access control and product tracking applications. This system uses conductive ink to store data on paper, plastic, glass, metal and other materials, which information is read by activating an RF scanner operating in the 125 KHz frequency range. This system suffers from all of the disadvantages of the U.K.I.D. system described above, especially that of limited range. According to Motorola, a postage stamp sized tag may be read by an RF scanner that is brought within 2 cm of the tag, while an 8.5xc3x9711 inch tag may be read from a distance of 28 inches.
It seems clear that theft of personal property including bicycles and motorcycles cannot be eliminated. Therefore, it would be desirable if a system could be developed that would increase the likelihood that stolen property which is recovered may be returned to its rightful owner. Although several systems have been described for marking and identifying property, and for retrieving identifying information therefrom, all have limitations and disadvantages. It would be desirable therefore, if a system could be developed that would facilitate the marking of property with identification information in a secure way so that such information cannot be easily removed, altered or defaced by a thief. It would also be desirable if such information could be easily and reliably read by law enforcement personnel. It would also be desirable if the components of such a system were inexpensive to manufacture. Furthermore, it would be desirable if identification information could be applied to property in such a way that it may be accurately and reliably read or perceived without the necessity for equipment that may be subject to electromagnetic interference.
Accordingly, the invention described and claimed herein provides among its advantages a system for marking property with identification information in a secure manner so that such information cannot be easily removed, altered or defaced by a thief. Another advantage of the invention is that it provides a system for retrieving identification information easily and reliably and without the necessity for equipment that may be subject to electromagnetic interference. Still another advantage of the invention is that it may be employed to retrieve identification information from any item property having an interior space of relatively small size.
Additional advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from an examination of the drawings and the ensuing description.
As used herein, identification information is information, such as a unique number, word, phrase, alphanumeric code, or other information that may be used to identify an item of personal property and to distinguish it from other items of similar property.
As used herein, an information retrieval device is a personal computer or similar device that is adapted and configured to contain information that may be retrieved upon demand.
As used herein, a semiconductor memory chip is a semiconductor chip capable of storing identification information, which chip is provided with a signal electrical pole and a ground electrical pole. The signal electrical pole is configured as an open drain output, so that the information stored by the chip can be accessed by contact with a conductive probe that is electrically connected to an open drain type bidirectional port of a personal computer or other information retrieval device.
The invention comprises a system for applying identification information to an item of property and for retrieving such information. The item of property must have an interior space in which a semiconductor memory chip may be mounted, and this space must be accessible to a reader probe. The system includes an identification module which contains a semiconductor memory chip containing identification information. The identification module also includes a component mount that is adapted to hold the memory chip in the interior space of the item of property. The system also includes a reader for retrieving the identification information from the semiconductor memory chip. The reader includes a signal lead and a ground lead that are adapted for connection to an information retrieval device. The reader also includes a probe that is adapted to make electrical contact between the signal electrical pole of the memory chip and the signal lead, and a conductor that is adapted to make electrical contact between the ground electrical pole of the memory chip and the ground lead, while the chip is mounted in the interior space of the item of property.
A method for identifying an item of property containing an interior space in which a semiconductor memory chip may be mounted is also described and claimed herein.
The invention thus permits the marking of property with identification information in a secure manner so that such information cannot be easily removed, altered or defaced by a thief. Furthermore, the invention provides a system for retrieving identification information from such property easily and reliably and without the necessity for equipment that may be subject to electromagnetic interference.
In order to facilitate an understanding of the invention, the preferred embodiments of the invention are illustrated in the drawings, and a detailed description thereof follows. It is not intended, however, that the invention be limited to the particular embodiments described or to use in connection with the items of property or other apparatus illustrated herein. Various modifications and alternative embodiments such as would ordinarily occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates are also contemplated and included within the scope of the invention described and claimed herein.